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Plasma kallikrein activation occurs frequently during blood drawing and subsequent plasma handling. The purified enzyme was incubated with ceruloplasmin, inter-alpha-trypsin inhibitor and complement factor C4. Proteolysis caused by this enzyme was compared with the degradative effects of plasmin and thrombin. Among these proteins C4 proved to be most easily degraded; its cleavage products can interact with C4-binding protein.

The cysteine sulfhydryl groups of alpha 2-macroglobulin (alpha 2M) generated upon thrombin complex formation are in contact with the proteinase surface as evidenced by singlet--singlet energy transfer measurements from N-(iodoacetylaminoethyl)-5-naphthylamine-1-sulfonic acid-labeled thiol functions of alpha 2M to fluorescein isothiocyanate-labeled thrombin. The thrombin-alpha 2M binding is normally covalent, but the presence of hydroxylamine during the reaction leads to the formation of a non-covalent complex. The transfer energy determinations show that the alpha 2M binding sites of thrombin are quite similar, whatever covalent or non-covalent binding occurs.